Lost Lies

“This...this cotton candy...this cotton candy is good.” I gulped, ripping out big chunks of light, heavenly cotton candy from its stick.

“You seem to have more spirit,” Cara said, snatching a piece of the cotton candy and popping it in her mouth.

“Yep, I feel ok – well, I think I am. I do feel ok; I feel sad, but ok.” I pulled up the hood of my Avenged Sevenfold hoody, a gift from Chris when I accepted his offer to join him at the concert, but failed to do so with a broken arm and my spare hand full. I struggled.

“Here.” Danny smiled a grin that could kill a girl in a second, but I was sort of used to it. It still made my heart flutter a bit and miss a beat. He lifted the hood up over my head with an easy gesture, making sure it was on right.

“Thanks.” I smiled back.

We were at the Walkden winter funfair, all five of us; Danny, Cara, Alex, Evangelina, Michelle and myself. It took a while to convince Michelle to join us and she insisted that I should get a check-up after the hit, go visit Chris before he got taken away and stay home with her, but I refused to let that happen, so she gave in. I’d changed clothing; I wasn’t going out in partly torn up clothes. What would people think of me?

“Let’s go on the Gravity Wheel,” Alex suggested, his attention focusing on a large round cage that tilted to an angle and spun around with nothing but gravity, a chain and handles to grip onto to keep you on the ride. I stared at it a moment, then grinned in delight.

“Happily,” I said through a mouthful of cotton candy. “I’m just hoping Danny isn’t scared.” I added.

“Excuse me?” He asked in offence, his deadly smile showing off his teeth, including a pair of dagger sharp fangs. “I am not afraid of anything, thank you.”

I waved my hand in front of his face as I laughed, “Put them away before you get yourself caught and staked. I never said afraid; I said ‘scared’ to be exact. There’s a big difference, Danny.”

“Well, scared then. It doesn’t matter; I’m still not scared of anything.”

I stopped, turned to him, and held up the now empty cotton candy stick. I pointed it to his heart, lightly resting it on his chest with the point in the centre. He looked down slowly, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, until his gaze crept up and he looked into my eyes; they were still his normal eye colour, but his gaze felt like he was staring deep into my soul.

“Not scared of anything, are you?” I asked slyly, a smile slowly creeping up to match his, but with more edge. With a raised eyebrow, I continued, “Let’s put that to the test, shall we? If I am not mistaken, you’re afraid of silver and wood, oh, not forgetting stakes, so what will happen if I jabbed this stick into your heart really, really hard?” I put a bit of pressure on the stick and his face dropped. “And you said you weren’t scared.” I shook my head and pulled away the stick, chucking it in a nearby bin before walking over to the ride.

“Ok, so maybe I am afraid. I’m afraid of something that could kill me. Why wouldn’t I be?” Danny said dryly.

“Yes, I get that, but just don’t say that you’re not afraid or scared or whatever of anything when, actually, you are.” I shrugged and continued politely, “So just don’t lie to me.”

“I have known you about, I don’t know, one or two days now; I hardly know you, neither does Alex, and yet you trust us with your life. I find that quite amusing considering what we are and our brother is trying to kill you, and that we were involved in tormenting you.”

“Don’t you believe in trust and second chances? I gave you guys a second chance. Isn’t that what friends do: trust people who want to look out from them?” I questioned, lining up for the ride.

“You’ve got some guts to trust us, girl.” Alex joked, nudging me lightly. “We are the fantastic creatures of the night.” He broadcasted. People turned and stared, faces blank, whispering to each other.

“Don’t flatter yourself; have you looked in a mirror lately?” I asked jokingly, shaking my head.

“I don’t think he has, Winter.” Cara taunted.

“Have you?” Alex asked tone dark and flirtatious.

“Have I what?” I frowned.

“Looked in a mirror lately?” He teased. I nodded in reply. He began to grin, a dark inviting smile that didn’t affect me in the slightest, so I punched him in the shoulder with my spare hand as hard as I could. He merely grinned wider. “You’re mistaken; if you had, you would have noticed the smear of dirt on your face.”

He licked his thumb and then pressed it to my cheek, taking too long to wipe away the smear of dirt.
When he pulled away, I smiled and looked away from his gaze. “Thank you.” I whispered and took a sharp, cold breath; I hadn’t noticed that I’d stopped breathing for a few second, nor had I expecting that.

When I looked up, Danny and Alex were grinning at me, Cara and Evangelina were laughing at me, but trying very hard not to, and Michelle...well, Michelle was stood staring at Alex, her arms folded, a frown creasing her forehead. She coughed and cleared her throat, breaking the tension as she spoke with weariness, “Shall we proceed in what we are here for in the first place, other than make a fool of Winter?”

One by one, we turned to look at Michelle, who shook her head and began to walk over to a drink stand.

“What bit her with the unhappy bug?” Danny whispered into my ear. When he pulled away, I gave him a sideways glance and hit him round the back of the head lightly. “Ouch, girl, what was that for?” He whined.

I shook my head and began to count up on my fingers, pointing at each individual one as I made a list of reasons of why Michelle was unhappy. “One: because of you two...”

“What - me and Alex?” He interrupted. I nodded in confirmation.

“Two: I got hit by a car and I refuse to go to the hospital. Three: I refuse to go and see my boyfriend’s dead body before they take it away. Four: she got dragged out here by two angels, a were-werewolf . . .”

“Wereangel,” Danny corrected.

“Yes. Oh, and you guys really need to tell me that story. I don’t have the slightest clue what happened there and you need to tell me how one min, I was with Alex and next it was Casper. Five...”
Danny’s hand lashed out over my mouth, his cold fingers halting my words. “Please shut up,” he begged, removing his hand. “I know the drill.”

“Whatever.” I murmured as we turned to join Cara, Evangelina, Alex and Michelle at the drink stand; the other three must have wondered off during mine and Danny’s conversation.

“Hey, guys, what happened to riding on the gravity wheel?” I sang, wrapping my arms round Cara and Evangelina’s shoulders.

“Beer showed up to keep us nice and warm in this freezing winter weather.” Evangelina grinned.

“Damn, who would hold a winter festival at this time of year; it’s Christmas in twenty three days!” Cara added.

“An idiot would. Anyway, you guys can’t feel the cold, well, except Michelle. You’re cold blooded anyway.” I pointed to Danny. “So it doesn’t affect you.” I continued. “You’re about one hundred and sixty degrees anyway, so you’re always warm.” I pointed to Alex.
He casually wrapped his arms round me.

“Are you warm now?” He asked smoothly. His breath was warm on my neck as he rested his chin on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes.

“Thanks.” I murmured. No point shouting it when he has good hearing. “Continuing: you two,” I pointed to Cara and Evangelina, “are angels and can’t feel the cold.”

“You don’t half go on sometimes, Winter. Take this before I drink it.” Evangelina handed over a cup of what smelled like vodka and coke.

“How did you get this? You’re under twenty one.” I asked, puzzled.

“We’re older than you think, silly. Plus, fake ID.” Cara said slyly, a devilish grin tugging higher on her mouth as I began to grin back.

I took a gulp of the drink, smiling as the warm, bittersweet liquid slid down my throat. I closed my eyes for a moment, letting in the indulgent sounds and smells of the fair around me. I opened my eyes and grinned; it was a night to let myself go a little, the sad feeling inside me swiftly decaying to nothing, my mind slowly melting to a warm, cosy feeling.

“Illegal drinking, I like. Now, are we going to stand here like statues or are we going to have fun? I prefer the ‘having fun’ part.” Danny hooped one arm around my waist and the other around Michelle’s waist.

I looked at Michelle, who was mirroring the same expression as me: confused.
We pushed him a way.

“Considering what just happened to me, I have no other emotion besides happiness.” I said cheerfully, even though a part of me was still dark and screaming at me, to let my emotion free, after what had happened.

“Figured, but sooner or later, it’s really going to hit you what happened; it happens to everyone. Now, let’s have a nice picture.” Evangelina suggested, pulling out a camera from her bag. “Come on, guys, smile and huddle together.”

I felt arms slide around my waist from both sides; Danny on my right and Alex on my left. Cara and Michelle knelt in front of us. I looked from Danny to Alex’s arm and then back at Evangelina, who now held the camera, pointing it at us.

“Say funfair or pull a funny face.” Evangelina called over the sounds of the fair.

“Wait! Danny doesn’t show up on camera, does he?” I asked, glancing at Danny.

“I can choose if I want to or not.” He confirmed.

“Funfair,” we chorused.

Before I could walk away to look at the photo, I was lifted into the air and perched upon Danny and Alex’s shoulders.

“Take a picture of this, Evangeline.” Alex called to her.

Evangelina looked up from the camera, a smile creeping up her face as she looked at me. She aimed the camera at us.

She trilled, “Smile!”